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Randal Rauser

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utilitarianism

A Review of The Moral Arc Part 3: From Absurdities to Atrocities

July 29, 2017 by Randal

For Part 2 of this review click here. Early on in The Moral Arc Michael Shermer quotes Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.” (7) It’s clear that Shermer likes this quote because he returns to it on several occasions. At one point he offers a different translation: “Truly, whoever […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: ethics, Michael Shermer, review, The Moral Arc, utilitarianism

Is God a user? A response to Nate’s Principle

February 1, 2014 by Randal

It’s Saturday morning, I’m sitting with a coffee by the fireplace, and the balloon is watching me. (He’s hovering over the kitchen table at the moment. At least he’s still smiling.) Now that I have some time I can offer some thoughts on “Evil and Nate’s Principle“. Please click the link to read Nate’s comments. […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: apologetics, defense, Nate, problem of evil, theodicy, utilitarianism

Evil and Nate’s Principle

January 30, 2014 by Randal

Nate is a philosopher in our midst who comments regularly on the blog. He just wrote a comment in “A Martian’s perspective on the problem of evil” which I’d like to interact with in a couple days. The comment is quite long and elegantly stated. And since threaded comments don’t always get the attention they […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: atheism, ethics, God, philosophy, problem of evil, providence, utilitarianism

Sex favors for dying children? A Response to Jag Levak

May 6, 2012 by Randal

We all recognize it is good to be generous, but there are limits. For example, Herod was generous to offer the daughter of Herodias whatever she wanted. But he was just wrong to oblige the child’s request for the head of John the Baptist. What if the daughter was terminally ill and had made an […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Christianity, ethics, morality, secularism, utilitarianism

Abortion and the old Coat hanger Argument

August 22, 2011 by Randal

“We tried universal illegal abortion and the results were quite horrific.” That statement was written by one of my faithful readers named Beetle and it is worth some reflection. It is worthy of that reflection because it provides a handy rehash of that most venerable and visceral of pro-choice arguments: the coat hanger argument. That argument seems […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: abortion, bioethics, coat hanger argument, deontology, ethics, euthanasia, suicide, utilitarianism

Is God the ultimate utilitarian?

February 17, 2011 by Randal

This is a sequel to “The great implausibility of Calvinistic Damnation Part 1. In that discussion we considered an argument for why God, on the Calvinistic view, opts to damn some people. According to that view the reason is because God necessarily always acts to manifest his glory most fully and it so happens that the […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: Calvinism, election, providence, utilitarianism

Grandpa drowns. Humanity flourishes

November 13, 2010 by Randal

James (of http://www.atheistspot.com/) has presented a secular morality which seems to look like this: Thou shalt commit acts which further human flourishing and not commit acts which inhibit human flourishing. I think this is just another form of utlitarianism where we seek to maximize pleasure or happiness and minimize displeasure or unhappiness. We could thus […]

Filed Under: The Tentative Apologist Tagged With: anatheist.net, ethics, human flourishing, morality, utilitarianism

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